ANGLING bodies over the last couple of years have successfully fought off attempts to bring in a licence for recreational sea anglers – RSAs.

The main two arguments against a licence was that it would be impossible to police and that RSAs would probably not gain anything in the way of improvement in our sport, unlike our freshwater counterparts.

But we are nowhere near safe from being forced into having a licence.

Already the Spanish and Portuguese have RSAs, to the detriment of the Portuguese fishing industry.

The Italian authorities are now wanting to get a better insight into the activities of their RSAs, so they can meet data collection requirements from EU legislation.

However, the Italians are opting for a free mandatory registration scheme where RSAs will get a certificate, with big penalties for those who don’t register.

If there was another attempt to bring a licence in I know UK anglers would once again object strongly.

However, UK RSAs might not know that this data collection system may well be introduced Europe-wide as part of the Water Framework Directive, and possibly the Habitat Directive.

Whether it will be to anglers’ advantage or not, will have to be seen.

It looks as if the council cuts are going to hit anglers.

Sadly among the first to suffer is the Wear Boating Association, which has been running for 93 years.

The rent for their premises has risen by 100% – not being able to afford this they are now looking for new premises, and the council are now even more out of pocket.